Lesson 1 from the Tarahumara: Live lean and build your soul. 

Our lives have a habit of becoming “cluttered” and in the process we get “cluttered” inside of ourselves too. No coincidence that in psychological terms we talk about “getting rid of baggage”.  Deena Castor understood perfectly the holistic ethos of the Tarahumara when she sought to train under Coach Joe Vigil.  Pg 119 “If Deena even wanted to think about training under Vigil, she had better be ready to train like the Tarahumara. That meant living lean and building her soul as much as her strength.” Vigil believed you had to be a strong person before you could become a strong runner.

In the day to day routine when it’s often natural to compartmentalise our lives, lets not forget running is an integral part of who we are and how we define ourselves. It is interconnected to all parts of our existence and each part affects another. We need to work out for ourselves what it means to live lean and how we can become stronger people and runners.

Think tired – feel tired – run badly

Think positive – feel positive – run well

Memorised for the inevitable part of the race where brain starts to scream “stop” and the negative thoughts seep in.

I’m not sure how I feel confidence wise about Dublin – on the plus side I’ve done the most consistent training I’ve ever done before a marathon which is good – on the down side I’ve felt a bit stale and lethargic the past few weeks which is not so good. As Mrs Tweedy tells Mr Tweedy “it’s all in your head” when he says them chickens are organised (fans of Chicken Run will understand!). Same could be said of marathon running or at least from mile 20 onwards!

6 days 20 hrs 54 mins now……. not that I’m counting you understand……….

Entitled “Hanging Tough – having a long hard think can help you through a long hard run”, it grabbed my attention in light of my near-exit from the Lochaber marathon a week previously.

I still feel sick in the pit of my stomach thinking about how I would have felt afterwards if I had given up. And realising that I’m not as tough as I should be and just how important mental toughness is in keeping going.

As John Shepherd says in the article ” Whatever distance you run, the tougher your mind, the better your performance.” The article continues “Mental toughness is not a standalone quality though. It comes from being physically fit, confident and motivated. It’s not just about overcoming pain.”

The good news is that you can train yourself to be mentally tough although, as the article points out, the bad news is that the best way to learn mental toughness is through tough experiences.

• train well
• train hard (sometimes)
• train for yourself – intrinsic rewards rather than extrinsic benefits
• talk to yourself – at the hardest part of the run
• find help if you need it

It should be an interesting race from a “psycho” point of view – as it is an out and back route we slower people on one side of the road will be seeing the fast runners on the other side of the road who have already reached the 13 mile turning point and are on their way back.

Also the route is not traffic-free which again, will be another first for me.

So I think to occupy my mind tonight I will make lists – that’s always a useful distraction – and so hopefully will not leave any essential item (such as running shoes) at home!

I was a bit apprehensive as to how I would get on as my legs had been stiff and hamstrings tight for most of the week after the half marathon last Sunday. I had also discovered that the calibration on my Garmin Forerunner 50 watch was a bit out (that’s for another post!).

The last 15 miler I did had been two loops of the same route so this time I opted to combine three of my shorter runs to give me the required 18 miles. This worked really well as I passed my house at the end of each and only covered a very short distance more than once. Also psychologically it was good as I segmented the run into 3 in my head and concentrated only on that one segment at a time.

Legs definitely feel like I’ve done something but having done this and not died has given me confidence that, with a couple more long runs under my belt, I should manage 26.2 in 5 weeks time.

It struck me that a lot of running is to do with what goes on in our heads and our attitude. Often when running in my head I am viewing it as a “hobby” so feel I should be enjoying it, looking at the scenery etc and it shouldn’t hurt too much. However, training for an event is different – the running is not an end in itself and therefore my attitude needs to be different. I need to concentrate more, both on my pace and running style (I need to keep reminding myself to lift my knees up when I get tired) and run intelligently. So if I’m on a hilly bit I moderate my pace and take smaller steps and conversely when on the flat I need to push myself a bit more. Oh yes – and not be afraid of a bit of discomfort. As my other half often reminds me, I have never not made it back from a run or collapsed in a heap so there is more “in the tank” and you can usually push yourself more than you think without disaster! Now I know none of the above is rocket science – I just needed to remind myself of it and practice it!

By the way, my Garmin footpod is now operational again – a new battery was all that was required thankfully. Was so glad to have it today.